The Milwaukee Film Festival opens Thursday

The Milwaukee Film Festival starts this week and if you can get there go.

A couple weeks back I got an email with information on the festival and I was so impressed I ran a piece on the festival. The selection of titles so impressed me that despite being tied up with the New York Film Festival press screenings, I decided to put in for credentials.

Those of you who know me, know that last statement says a HUGE amount since I almost never leave the New York metro area so my saying that I would actually consider getting on a plane and travel to a festival says a great deal.

As I waited for my credentials I sat down and started to make a list of the films that we had covered at Unseen and I suddenly was shocked because unlike most other film festivals where we’ve seen a handful of films, with Milwaukee we covered 41 films previously. That’s a large chunk of the festival. What is more amazing is that with very few exceptions the films are really good. It’s as if the programmers went to every major festival from the last year and cherry picked the best films. Seriously some of the best films from Tribeca, New York International Children’s Film Festival, DOC NYC, New Directors New Films as well as several other festivals are here. Trust me Unseen Films has covered in one form or another over 50 film festivals in the last year so I’ve seen a lot of slates and many of the absolute best films from all the other festivals are playing in Milwaukee.

The pull quote for the festival would be “if you can only go to one film festival a year and want to see the best films that have played at all the others go to Milwaukee”.

It’s a statement I stand behind- if you want to see the best stuff go. I mean after 50 other festivals we have an idea what the best films are. Looking at that many festivals for several years now you get a sense if something is well programmed or not. This is a festival that is extremely well programmed and the programmers should be carried around the city as heroes. (no really they should- it is that good)

Unfortunately for me having seen so many of the films already it makes covering the festival difficult. The way the schedule shakes out I would have too much dead space in the short time I would be in the city. It wouldn’t be fair to people who could use the tickets so I emailed the extremely nice press people and told them to keep the tickets and that if they could help me get some screeners I would try to cover some of the festival remotely- which is what they did so closer to their screenings I’ll have some reviews.

If you're free and can get to Milwaukee it would behoove you to get to the festival any time between Thursday and when it ends October 6...

And if you’re looking for something good to see at the festival and aren’t sure where to start below are the links to all of the films we’ve covered previously. I’m sorry that it’s so long but we’ve been busy beavers. On the other hand there are some absolute winners here including some of the best films I’ve seen this year so it’s worth hunting through to find some film that’s going to be your new favorite.

Here's reviews of the films we've seen:

ALMOST SUNRISE
AWOL
BURDEN OF PEACE
BY THE NAME OF BOSTON
CHECK IT
EMBERS
FASTBALL
FIVE NIGHTS IN MAINE
FROM MASS TO MOUNTAIN
HOOLIGAN SPARROW
IN PURSUIT OF SILENCE
KAILI BLUES
KEEPERS OF THE GAME
LAMB
LAST LAUGH
LEGEND OF SWEE PEA
LIFE ANIMATED
LIZA THE FOX FAIRY
MISS SHARON JONES
MOTLEY"S LAW
MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART
MY FATHER WAS A CHERRY TREE
NATIONAL BIRD
NEITHER HEAVEN NOR EARTH
NUTS
OBIT
OCTOPUS
OVARIAN PSYCHOS
PEGGY GUGGENHIEM ART ADDICT
PERFECT HOUSE GUEST- this is a charming is a film about a very clean mouse.
PHANTOM BOY
RIGHT NOW WRONG THEN
SPEED SISTERS
STOP MAKING SENSE
TALE OF TALES
TEENY WEENY FOX
UNDER THE SHADOW
UNTOUCHABLE
VIVA
WOMEN HE'S UNDRESSED

The Milwaukee Film Festival runs September 22 to October 6. For more information and tickets go here